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How-To Geek

Our first edition of WIG for June is filled with news link goodness covering topics such as no more Start Menu hacks in the Windows 8 Release Preview, Microsoft has upset advertisers with IE10 ‘Do Not Track’ policy, the FTC will investigate Facebook’s purchase of Instagram, and more.

Original, unaltered Grim Reaper wallpaper is available for download here.

Weekly News Links

Original, unaltered Grim Reaper wallpaper is available for download here.

Confirmed: US and Israel created Stuxnet, lost control of itIn 2011, the US government rolled out its “International Strategy for Cyberspace,” which reminded us that “interconnected networks link nations more closely, so an attack on one nation’s networks may have impact far beyond its borders.” An in-depth report from the New York Times confirms the truth of that statement as it finally lays bare the history and development of the Stuxnet virus—and how it accidentally escaped from the Iranian nuclear facility that was its target.

Spy malware infecting Iranian networks is engineering marvel to beholdMalware recently found infecting Middle Eastern networks is so complex and sophisticated that it’s probably an advanced cyber-weapon unleashed by a wealthy country to wage a protracted espionage campaign on Iran, researchers from some of the world’s leading security companies said.

Tiny banking trojan can do a lot of damageSecurity experts at CSIS say that they have discovered the smallest online banking trojan yet. Called Tiny Banker (Tinba), the malware is just barely 20 KB in size, including its configuration files.

How a trio of hackers brought Google’s reCAPTCHA to its kneesGoogle revamped its reCAPTCHA system, used to block automated scripts from abusing its online services, just hours before a trio of hackers unveiled a free system that defeats the widely used challenge-response tests with more than 99 percent accuracy.

Apple’s Crystal Prison and the Future of Open PlatformsTwo weeks ago, Steve Wozniak made a public call for Apple to open its platforms for those who wish to tinker, tweak and innovate with their internals. EFF supports Wozniak’s position: while Apple’s products have many virtues, they are marred by an ugly set of restrictions on what users and programmers can do with them.

No More Start Menu Hacks in Windows 8 Release PreviewIn addition to the wide range of other changes that the almost-here Release Preview of Windows 8 is expected to pack in terms of performance and visual design, there might also be some that could make some users very unhappy.

Fedora 18 to support UEFI Secure BootMatthew Garrett, kernel developer at Red Hat, has given details of the plans to ship Fedora 18 with the ability to boot under UEFI secure boot. The Secure Boot technology of UEFI will be enabled by default on future Windows 8 hardware and is designed to ensure that only appropriately digitally signed operating systems will boot.

Google Apps for Business receives ISO 27001 certificationGoogle Enterprise Director of Security Eran Feigenbaum has announced that the Google Apps for Business web-based productivity suite has received ISO/IEC 27001 certification. This means that the company’s online business suite has now been certified to comply with the IT security family of standards which governs “explicit managed control” of information security.

Skip Internet Explorer for Web Dev. Save $100,000An interesting story about a new startup that is avoiding developing for IE since it costs more money. “To save more than $100,000, 4ormat decided to skip Internet Explorer, opting to only allow users to access its service through Mozilla’s Firefox and Google Chrome browsers.”

Mozilla official article: “To have the Australis theme up for review next week”After numerous mockups and expressed user desires (and a serious amount of positive feedback), it seems that, according to an official blog post, the Firefox developers are “to have the Australis theme up for review next week”, meaning the new Australis theme is to probably land in Firefox in the near future (probably first in its nightly and BETA channels).

Wine 1.5.5 adds support for Mono as an add-on packageVersion 1.5.5 of the Wine open source Windows API implementation has been released. The most notable changes include the addition of support for installing the .NET 4.0 runtime and for installing Mono as a Wine add-on package.

SkyDrive Support Coming to GNOME 3.6On May 31st, Debarshi Ray, a developer for the GNOME Project, announced on his blog that initial support for SkyDrive has been implemented in the daily builds of the GNOME Documents app, via the GNOME Online Accounts software by using a Windows Live account.

Virtual currency exchange ‘good idea’ yet tough to establishThe concept of a virtual currency exchange, in which gamers can sign up with to trade their in-game currency with other types of virtual money as well as real-world ones, may seem a “good idea”. However, it will be difficult to set up and flourish due to regulatory constraints and lack of game operators’ buy-in.